Primary Care Capacity Assessment

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Jocelyn Willis
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1 Better Information for Better Outcomes Primary Care Capacity Assessment The 22nd Annual Symposium on Health Care Services in New York: Research and Practice Wednesday October 12, 2011 Jean Moore, Director Center for Health Workforce Studies School of Public Health, SUNY at Albany 0

2 The Center for Health Workforce Studies Based at the School of Public Health at SUNY Albany Not-for-profit academic research center established in 1996 The Center s mission is to provide timely, accurate data, and conduct policy-relevant research about the health workforce The Center s goal is to inform public policies and stakeholders, from the health and education sectors as well as the public 1

3 Overview Identifying primary care shortages Assessing primary care physician capacity Impacts of new shortage designation rules: counting the primary care contributions of NPs, PAs and midwives Developing a more systematic approach to assessing primary care capacity in New York 2

4 One Measure of Shortage: Primary Care Health Professional Shortage Areas 3

5 Primary Care HPSAs in New York City 4

6 Health Professional Shortage Areas: Current Guidelines There are three types of health professional shortage areas (HPSAs) Primary care, dental health, and mental health Three types of designations of HPSAs Geographic, special population, and facility Designation criteria for geographic and special population primary care HPSAs A defined service area that is rational for the delivery of primary care services 3,500 to 1 population-to-provider ratio (3,000 to 1 for special pop) Services deemed inaccessible in contiguous areas 5

7 Medically Underserved Areas and Populations: Current Guidelines Primary care only Geographic or special population Designation criteria A defined rational service area Weighted score of 62 or less based on Population-to-provider ratio Percent of the population under 100% of the Federal Poverty Level Percent of the population 65 years of age or older Infant mortality rate Governor s Exceptions 6

8 Benefits of Shortage Designations HPSA Designations Recruitment and retention opportunities, including National Health Service Corps scholars and loan repayment placements J-1 Visa Waiver placements Doctors Across New York placements 10% Medicare Part B rate enhancements for all primary care and specialty providers in primary care geographic HPSAs Medically Underserved Area/Population Designations Federal 330 new site or expansion funding Recruitment and retention opportunities, including J-1 Visa Waiver placements Doctors Across New York placements 7

9 The Supply of Community-Based Primary Care Physician FTEs Per Capita in the State is Changing Community-based Primary Care FTEs Per Capita in 2009 and Change between Region Supply Per 100k Change Capital District % Central NY % Finger Lakes % Hudson Valley % Long Island % Mohawk Valley % NYC % North Country % Southern Tier % Western NY % Statewide % 8

10 The View from 10,000 Feet: We Know What We Don t Know The distribution of primary care physicians within a region The primary care capacity of NPs, PAs, and midwives in the state The extent to which community-based primary care providers serve high-need populations How far people travel (beyond county boundaries)for primary care services How the denominator is changing a smaller, but older population upstate How demand for basic health services is affected by Medicaid redesign and federal efforts to expand access to health insurance 9

11 The Rules for Shortage Area Designation are Changing A federally mandated Negotiated Rulemaking Committee has been convened to update the rules for shortage designation New rules for the designation of primary care HPSAs and MUAs/Ps are expected to be in place sometime next year Possible changes: Adjusting demand for services based on characteristics of the population, including age, race/ethnicity, poverty, mortality, and population density Counting the contribution of nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and midwives toward primary care capacity Encouraging the development of a statewide set of primary care rational service areas 10

12 What s Wrong With Our Current Approach to Designating Primary Care Shortage Areas in New York? Not comprehensive or systematic Aimed at maintaining current designations Less emphasis on identifying areas with emerging shortages Provider data not readily available and sometimes does not reflect current primary care capacity Current efforts are time and resource intensive 11

13 Can We Build A Better Mousetrap? HEAL 9 Planning Grant: Partnership between the Center and the CHCANYS Project activities Develop a statewide set of primary care rational service areas (RSAs) Conduct re-registration surveys for nurse practitioners, physician assistants and midwives Conduct a comprehensive statewide primary care capacity assessment 12

14 Method for Developing RSAs Adapted a cluster analysis approach used by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to construct a set of commuting zones for the U.S. Based on commuting patterns of patients to primary care providers Data sources included Medicare, Medicaid, 11 commercial insurers statewide, and uninsured patients served by community health centers in New York 13

15 Preliminary Primary Care RSAs 14

16 Statewide Stakeholder Outreach In collaboration with CHCANYS, regional stakeholder meetings are being convened Local providers, planners, and other stakeholders invited to review proposed RSAs and provide feedback Helps to identify local issues that affect access to primary care and RSA configuration 15

17 Issues Raised by Local Stakeholders Issue #1 Available insurance data were incomplete Data for the following insurers were missing: Excellus (Rochester, Finger Lakes and Southern Tier) Fidelis (Capital District) Possible strategy to address issue Work with NYHPA to ensure that all major commercial insurers in the state are included in all future RSA development work 16

18 Issues Raised by Local Stakeholders Issue #2 Aggregating utilization data may mask issues facing underserved populations Commuting patterns may differ by insurance status, i.e., Medicaid-eligibles may travel further to find providers who accept Medicaid Possible strategy to address issue Discrete analyses of commuting patterns by payor will be completed to better understand variation in commuting patterns 17

19 Issues Raised by Local Stakeholders Issue #3 Cross-state commuting for primary care was not included in the analysis The following commuting patterns were identified: Pennsylvania to and from the Southern Tier Vermont to and from the eastern Adirondacks and the Capital District Massachusetts to and from the Hudson Valley and the Capital District Connecticut to and from the Hudson Valley Possible strategy to address issue Data are not available in the current study to address the issue of cross-state commuting for primary care services, but could be considered for future research 18

20 Issues Raised by Local Stakeholders Issue #4 The RSAs developed reflect current utilization, not optimal utilization Possible strategy to address issue Consider using access indicators such as Prevention Quality Indicators to better understand the relationship between current utilization and optimal utilization of primary care services 19

21 Potential Uses for RSAs Create a more systematic and streamlined approach to the identification and designation of HPSAs and MUA/Ps Inform impact analyses for proposed changes to update HPSA and MUA/P methodologies Support local health planning efforts Inform state policies and programs 20

22 Closing Thoughts RSAs are an important starting point in systematic assessments of primary care capacity in New York Local stakeholder input has informed the work of this research project Systematic assessment of primary care capacity must be a collaborative effort that: Uses the best available data and tools Draws on the knowledge and experience of local stakeholders 21

School of Public Health University at Albany, State University of New York

2017 A Profile of New York State Nurse Practitioners, 2017 School of Public Health University at Albany, State University of New York A Profile of New York State Nurse Practitioners, 2017 October 2017